"It's not a good thing at all, they beef
about
each other. They're under the same roof,
but
don't talk to each other, even if they're
dying to
on the inside. Little things cause
quarrels, and no
one wants to apologize.
When they hit crossroads, the either
make up, or
part ways"

That's what an anonymous friend of
mine said from her experience.

It's called roommate rivalry.

People are annoying. It's a question of
how we
handle them. Most of us have short
emotional
fuses, that explode with the slightest
provocation. A minute few rarely get
angry. The
good news is, you only need to be
somewhere in
the middle to get along with the rest
of
humanity. It's all part of the symphony
of life.

Connecting socially is a major 'live
wire in the
electric box' of school life. However,
whether you
live on or off campus, you can't rule
out the
possibility of a few heads to heads
occurring,
especially when you share living space
with one
or more people.

We've gotta hand it to the cool headed
guys who
put up with our annoying selves.

They're gems!

Clashes occur when the personality
differences
between roommates (or flatmates)
cause
emotional tensions— which escalate
quickly into
violence. It's common for one or both
individuals
to engage in 'word
combat' (exchanging words in
a fit of rage, that are often
provocative), and
most people experience the heat
during the early
days of living together— newbies
adjust to
themselves and their environment.
Occasionally,
even old friends fight.

If you've got someone you share (or
intend to
share) living space with in college,
chances are
at least one of these bombs are likely
to go off:

Cleanliness:
Keeping the house clean can be a
difficult task for some people,
especially if you
can't tolerate untidiness.

Space:
Problems can arise in terms of how
much
space one person claims for himself
(consciously
or not).

Bath and Kitchen:
Ideally, these two should too
the charts. Have you ever seen dirt plates left
unwashed for two weeks or felt
nauseated at the
sight of a toilet someone forgot to
flush? I need
not say more.

Partying:
It's normal for students to cool off by
partying, but when your roommate
brings home
drunk friends who smoke, it can be an
issue.

Sharing:
Contrary to popular beliefs, no wanting
to share doesn't explicitly make you
stingy. Some
people aren't cool with the idea of
others using
their stuff without their consent.

Visitors:
While this is not much of a problem
with
friends living together, No body likes to
leave the
room always, because of too many
visitors.

Food:
When only one person cooks, and only
one
person eats, what do you think will
happen?
'forks of fury!'

Rental delay:
We're not always without financial
constraints (especially as students),
but no body
wants to have to evacuate the room,
because of
rental delays from number two.

Having said all that, if arguments are a
constant
feature in your school life, do employ
less life-
threatening methods to resolve the
conflicts.

#1 Set Boundaries:
One of the things most people don't
do when
they move in together, is to set
boundaries. It
can be an awkward thing to do, but it
saves a lot
of trouble. Talk about each others'
likes and
dislikes, and what you can't tolerate. It
becomes
everyone's responsibility to respect
and adjust to
these boundaries.

#2 Dialogue:
Learning to cool off in the heat of
an argument (before sparks fly) takes
conscious
effort and practice over time. usually,
emotional
explosions start out small, piling up
over time.
Before a huge pile forms, it's advisable
to talk
about the issue with the person(s)
involved.
Clearly state what it is that's pissing
you off,
asking them to stop or modify it. You'd
be
surprised how much gets solved, just
from sitting
down to talk about it.

#3 Call A Truce:
If the friendship matters to you, or you
just
want peace in your life, or you want to
be the
'mature one', make the first move.
Apologize.
Some people have massive egos that
prevent
them from admitting that they're
wrong (even
when it's obvious that they're). Pop
their
balloons by calling a truce.

There are a whole bunch of other
methods I
haven't listed here that work. Do you
know any?
There are a whole bunch of other
methods I
haven't listed here that work.

Do you
know any? I hope you find this useful. I'm Koye. I write articles on school hacks, and share tips for making the most of university life, On my blog: Koye's Campus. (I use a free platform for now) http://koyescampus..com